Hackers
Hackers are the cyber heroes of both the human race and the Nanon. Nanon hackers use the anonymity provided by the hacker lifestyle to allow them to blend in with the mortal populous and avoid detection by the various boogey man that their numerous conspiracy theories have claimed to exist. Cunning and aloof, hackers perform guerilla attacks on anything that even hints of deception or secrecy, two things that they see everywhere they look. Nickname: Operators Narot: Hackers, while often politically minded, usually prefer solitude and anonymity. While a hacker may leave calling cards and perform signature hacks and use the same avatar over and over, they do not intentionally reveal their identity. This practice tends to carry over into their ‘social’ behavior. Hackers who chose the Immortals will appear exclusively as their avatar. Whether this is a cyber-representation or an android depends upon the resources available to the particular hacker as well as their tastes and interests in the event. The Arm and Aegis make extensive use of hackers, but these individuals are usually hired for their roles, not inducted. Enigma, in its desire to restrict its contact with the cyberworld, tends to repel hackers. Those that join Enigma are said to turn their hacker skills away from the machine and towards nature itself. The majority of all hackers are members of The Shadowmen, a loosely connected intelligence outfit hidden among the Nanon. The Shadowmen are so concealed that most members do not even know that they are members until they are in too deep. Appearance: Hackers tend to reveal themselves through avatars. It is not uncommon for a hacker to be known only as his or her avatar. The avatar of a hacker is designed initially by the hacker’s subconscious but evolves with the hacker. The actual hacker may look like anyone and could easily go unnoticed in public. They would even be overlooked in their own homes if it were not for the excessive amount of electronic devices, not all of which are functional, littering their ‘workspace’. Safe Houses: ' Hackers use multiple safe houses to house tons of backed up information. Size is divided up into nearly as many different safe houses while security is often focused on a primary location as the individual smaller safe houses don’t need security as the hacker relies upon software to protect the information. Location plays a tricky part in a hacker’s safe house as they need access to the grid to do what they do. As a result hackers with high location ratings are often in the heart of the city but so far out of reach that even if someone found their safe house the hacker would had more than enough time to cleanse it and move on. '''Background: ' Hackers were hackers in their previous life. There are very few Nanon hackers that were not computer jocks when they were human, but some do exist. Nearly any intelligence agent would have the skills necessary to perform assisted hacking. While their limited computer knowledge may seem to make them the second string for Team Hackers, their covert training more than makes up for this. Their best offense is a great defense and given the time that their great defense can afford them they will have the opportunity to improve their skills. 'Character Creation: ' Mental primary with physical and social tertiary. This seems to be the default for hackers but hackers are more than just brains attached to keyboards. Hackers regulate the flow of knowledge, restricted or otherwise. While their intellectual aptitudes are definitely a plus, consider their social components. Hackers may view the internet as a medium through which information flows, but the internet is actually a social construct of the modern world. It is the new boardroom, city hall, café and classroom; to navigate it one needs to be charismatic and confident. In Schrödinger’s society, everyone is predator and prey. Hackers also benefit from durable bodies. The ability to survive off delivery, undercooked canned goods and bottom-of-the-pile leftovers can be an underappreciated asset to someone who spends their entire life in a swivel chair with bad back support. But more than this, hackers need to be physically fit to endure the stresses of their activities. Hacking into government databases isn’t the kind of thing you do likely, not if you’re sane. Regular cardio also improves brain function by stimulating and helping to break down glucose and create lactic acid, two very important fuel sources for the brain. '''Favored Attributes: '''Wits or Composure '''Zhizn’ Applications: Wiki, Protocol, Radioflash Weakness: Hackers are single-minded entities. When they are hacking they are disciplined and focused, when they are not hacking they are thinking about hacking and distracted and addled. Hackers, for all of their desire to influence the world are themselves oblivious to it. Hackers receive a -2 penalty to perceive things that they are not specifically looking for. This penalty includes Wits + Composure draws to determine if the hacker is surprised as well as any Initiative draw that results from a failed surprise draw. Hackers also have a natural predilection to run. It is not because all hackers are cowards (most are) but because it is usually their responsibility to ensure the safety and transportation of critical data. When the hacker hears the Call, faced with a scenario that triggers a fight or flight response, the hacker can choose flight (Storyteller discretion). All draws to resist flight are at a -2. While this may not seem like such a bad thing think about the reception that the hacker receives when others find out that he left his allies to die, or worse. Organization: '''Hackers do not have an organization so much as they have a collection of societal rules. While not quite laws, these social conventions dictate proper behavior among hackers. To hackers, the hack is sacred. To hack another hacker is a display of dominance, but to hack another hacker who is in the middle of another hack, particularly a risky hack, is tantamount to treason among this subculture. Any negative repercussions faced by the compromised hacker as a result of the negligent hacker’s actions are interpreted as an intentional act by the negligent hacker against their victim. In short, if you bring another hacker to harm by interfering with their activities then you are guilty of committing that harm directly. Clean hacks, however, are respected and give the hacker a certain level of cred. In many ways hackers are like a collection of house cats. Through displays of dominance every cat knows their place in the group. Constant attempts to exert one’s dominance over another cat higher up on the pecking order are expected and in many cases encouraged. But directly malicious attacks can weaken the group as a whole; a hacker may execute a hack that completely locks another hacker out of their system, but the attacker always provides software that corrects the problem after the hacked individual admits defeat. '''Combinations: The Arm – Neo, Morpheus, Trinity; Aegis – Cable; Immortals – Razor and Blade; The Shadowmen – Cypher; Enigma – Lord Nikon Concepts: The One, swivel chair survivalist, cyber trickster.